A casual review of the history of the leadership of the National Hockey League Players Association should be enough to scare off any rational being from the idea of adding his name to the list. I am not suggesting that Donald Fehr is not a rational being, but he has been asked to assume command of the hockey union and he hasn’t said no.

Fehr has declined to talk about the offer or even acknowledge that he has one to accept or reject. But people who know him from his 26-year tenure as head of the baseball players union believe that the job is his if he wants it but say unanimously he would be crazy to take it.

Which is why Fehr may very well accept the offer.

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Alan Embree is left-handed and breathing but three weeks into spring training doesn’t have a job.

“He’s not only left-handed and breathing, but he’s throwing the ball very well,” the pitcher’s agent, Ron Shapiro, said. “We’re confident.”

It’s an old joke in baseball. It doesn’t matter how old a left-handed pitcher is; if he’s able to get to the mound without the aid of a cane or a wheelchair, some team will sign him for its bullpen. To some players like Embree, though, it’s not so funny anymore because it’s not happening.

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The third and last volume of Fay Vincent’s oral history project for the Hall of Fame is in print and will go on sale March 16. Titled “It’s What’s Inside the Lines That Counts,” the Simon & Schuster book features oral histories of half a dozen or so Hall of Famers and one person who is notoriously not in the Hall of Fame — Marvin Miller.

To Vincent’s great and lasting credit, unlike most management officials, he has not let his position of former baseball commissioner blind him to Miller’s impact on baseball. Vincent has long supported Miller’s candidacy for the Hall, both in speech and in writing. And he has included him in his latest book with such notable players as Tom Seaver, Juan Marichal, Ozzie Smith and Cal Ripken.

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